Kitten Season Strikes Again

When I first started volunteering with animal rescue, and heard the term “kitten season”, it made me smile. I imagined kittens everywhere – and who doesn’t love adorable, entertaining kittens?! The more experienced volunteers seemed to dread the mention of kitten season, but not me. Kittens are so cute, they are easy to find homes for, and they are a lot of fun! What was there to dread?

Now, after turning down request after request for help with kittens who are going to be euthanized because there are just too many of them – now I too dread kitten season. Seeing a well cared for and happy kitten is fun – seeing dead and dying kittens, not so much. There are many low-cost options to have pets spayed and neutered, to prevent unwanted litters of kittens, but many people don’t know about these programs. I had helped some neighbors get vouchers to have their cats and dogs fixed, and they told me about another neighbor who also had too many cats. I suggested they pass on my name and I would try to get the cats into a shelter to be adopted, and they informed me that would be preferable to the normal method of dealing with too many cats – which is to take them out in the woods and shoot them. So when a friend of the neighbor showed up with a medium sized dog crate that was full of cats, I just said I’d take all of them, even though I had no idea what I was going to do with them. They said there were adults and kittens in the crate. I asked how many, and they had no idea. They also told me about three more cats that they planned to keep, none of which were fixed and one of whom is pregnant and should have more kittens any day. We made arrangements to get them spay/neuter vouchers for those cats as well, and I’m sure I’ll end up with the new kittens once they are weaned as well. Did you know that a momma cat can get pregnant while she is still nursing her previous litter? It is no surprise that so many cats and kittens are being killed each day due to an overpopulation of cats. Rescues and shelters can only do so much, but until people stop allowing their pets to have unwanted babies, there will always be more kittens than we can save.
So enough preaching – now in case you’re wondering how many cats turned out to be in the carrier – well, I was wondering too! I tried to count them, but they were lying on top of each other and it was hard to see them all. So I took them to my friend Bev’s house so she could deworm them and put on flea medication and give the sickest kittens a vitamin shot. While she was working so hard to help these cats, I left and went to lunch with my mom. I still feel guilty about that! But after lunch I called Bev and asked the question I had wanted to know – how many cats were there in that one medium-sized crate?

Bev told me there were four adults (two male, two female) and nine kittens. And she said it just like that – like it was no big deal at all. “NINE kittens?!”, I asked. Surely I had not heard correctly. But yes, nine kittens was the correct answer. And suddenly I found myself right in the middle of Kitten Season. The local shelter was kind enough to take three of the adult cats, and I’ll keep the mom and nine kittens at my house until they’re big enough to be adopted. I haven’t named any of the kittens yet, mostly because I haven’t had time to think of nine kitten names that go together, but also because I have no idea if they are males or females. It’s tough to tell with five-week-old kittens! Kittens must be at least eight weeks and weigh at least two pounds before they can be spayed/neutered, and that must happen before they can be adopted. So it will be at least three more weeks before the nine kittens are ready to go to the shelter. In the meantime, I’m enjoying cute and playful kittens, while bemoaning the huge mess that kittens make. I’ve had to turn down several more requests for help with kittens in the past few days, so if you too would like to foster some adorable kittens until they’re old enough to be adopted, please contact me!



A very patient mom feeds some of her nine kittens.





The kittens are starting to eat softened solid food.



This is one of the runts of the litter.



This one has a dirty face after eating/bathing in canned food.



The kittens are so small and still have blue eyes!



I think this one is glaring at me for interrupting playtime.



Irresistible!



Tornado Damage

We recently had a tornado that damaged a lot of homes and businesses in a city near us.  Here is a photo (courtesy of KTVI) that shows a satellite picture of some of the damage.  Fortunately no people were killed in this tornado, but some animals were, including one mother cat.  Her four five month old kittens survived, but with their house totally destroyed, the family turned them over to us to find new homes for the kittens.

(click to enlarge)

This is how I came to foster these adorable kittens:

Stormy

Thunder 

Lightning

Raine

I took these pictures within 2 minutes of putting them into their new room, and as you can see, they made themselves right at home.  Thunder, the only boy, is the most active which is why I had such a hard time getting a picture of him.  But you can see him better in this video - he's the one actually playing with the toy while Lightning and Raine are watching.

Rescue

Last week I received a call from a friend. She was driving to work with her car windows down, enjoying the nice weather. As she approached a rural intersection, she heard a very faint "meow". She stopped, and listened intently. There it was again - "meow".  She got out of her car and looked around. Her eyes landed on a wet cardboard box lying in the drainage ditch next to the road. As she got closer she could see the box was closed. Next to the box was a small black kitten, who went running into the brush as she approached. She opened the box and found two more kittens inside - one white and one gray. She realized that the family up the road - the one who had just removed the "free kittens" sign from their front yard - must have tired of waiting for new homes for these kittens. It had happened before, and would probably happen again. They had been left to die in a ditch next to the road. She gathered up the two kittens in the box, but no amount of coaxing would bring out the little black kitten from his newfound hiding spot in the brush. So she returned home with the two rescued kittens and placed them in a carrier with food and water.

When she called to tell me what happened, I immediately headed to the black kitten's last known location. I parked on the side of the road and began searching the area. Within five minutes I heard a faint meow, and less than five minutes after that I was able to spot the kitten. He was a cute little furball with a white spot on his chest and a serious look on his face. I climbed up through the brush toward him, thankful that I remembered to put on a sweatshirt to protect my arms from the thorns. I opened a can of cat food and attempted to coax him to me. Minutes passed, and our standoff continued. Finally I tired of the wait, and reached for him. He was less than six feet from me, hiding under some thick brush. He immediately bolted away from me, down the hill. I was blocked from following by the thorny underbrush. I headed back up and around the other side of the thicket. No sign of the kitten. I continued to circle the area, talking softly to the kitten and hoping that the smell of the canned food I had inadvertently spilled all over my arm would convince him to make his presence known. Five minutes passed - then ten. After fifteen minutes I began to fear that I would never find him. I peered through the bushes and vines but couldn't spot the small shape of a kitten hiding beneath the overgrowth. Finally I called another rescue volunteer who lived nearby. She immediately raced to the scene with a live trap, a small net, and more canned food. We discussed leaving the trap out to try to catch the kitten, but we were concerned that the kitten did not weigh enough to set off the trap. As we discussed the situation, my friend who found the kittens returned from work, ready to assist. We decided to try to catch the kitten one more time.

As we surrounded the area where the kitten was hiding, we finally spotted him! We carefully closed in, crawling through the undergrowth, ignoring the mud and burrs and thorns. There he was, just sitting there watching us. And then as we approached him, we noticed a movement. Another small black kitten was less than five feet from the kitten we were surrounding. There were two of them! Suddenly I was glad I hadn't caught the first kitten right away. We would never have known of this second kitten's presence and he would surely have died here alone. So there we were, trying to catch two small black kittens who wanted nothing to do with any of us. We would close in, then they would run. We would regroup and try again, and again they would run, always avoiding us. Finally we were able to get close enough and my friend reached out and scooped one up. After further attempts, the other kitten was caught in the same way. They were both placed in a cat carrier and taken to safety, to be reunited with their two littermates.

At the time of this picture, taken immediately after the rescue, none of the kittens were very happy about their situation.  However they have since learned to enjoy a life filled with a lot of love and petting and playing and canned food.  They are doing very well in their foster home and will soon be ready for adoption. 

Update on the kittens

I'm sorry to say that "Spot" did not survive, and he has now joined his brothers at the Rainbow Bridge.  He fought hard, but even with medicine and force feeding, his little body just couldn't fight off the parasites. 

We finally have a definitive answer on what caused the kittens to become so sick.  They tested positive for a parasite called tritrichomonas foetus.  It causes diarrhea and while it can affect both adults and kittens, it is usually not fatal.  However these kittens are so young and frail that they just weren't strong enough to survive.   Regular dewormers and antibiotics don't work against this parasite, and we actually had to order the only medicine that is shown to be effective against it from a pharmacy several states away.  They are sending the medicine by overnight mail, so hopefully it will get here later today in time to help the last surviving kitten - the one I was temporarily calling "Trickster" (because she was always escaping from her room).

I've officially named her Mira.  It's short for Miracle... because that is what she needs.  Not only does she need to survive these parasites, but the medicine we will be giving her to help her fight them off is very dangerous and known to cause neurological problems so I will be monitoring her closely and if she has any side effects we will have to quit the medication.  Thank you all for your well wishes - I will keep you updated on how she is doing.

On another note, I have some happier news to share.  Last night I met with a lady who is interested in adopting Casey.  She met Casey and everything went really well, and she will most likely be taking him home next week!

I explained to Casey that he was going to be adopted and get to live with a wonderful new mom.  I was hoping the news wouldn't be too hard on him and he wouldn't mind going to yet another new place.  I shouldn't have worried.  He said "Next week??  How about right now?!"  Oh wait, nevermind.  That was my husband Dave who said that.  But Casey did seem excited to hear he would get to live with the nice lady he met tonight.  Or perhaps he was just excited at the thought of getting away from Remi and Noelle and Tripoli and Ziggy.  Either way, he is one happy dog. 

When Fostering Is Hard...

I try to keep most of my posts happy and upbeat, so I will warn you in advance that this post is not a happy post. Feel free to leave now and come back tomorrow, when I will hopefully have something more cheerful to share. Really, it's okay.



Alright, so if you're still reading, I'm sorry to have to share this bad news. Two of my four foster kittens have died. I am very worried about the other two kittens. The vet has done some tests and they have a parasite - either giardia or something that starts with a "t" that I can't pronounce. They're on medication and I'm just hoping they pull through. We'll have additional test results in a few days, but in the meantime there is not a whole lot they can do for the two remaining kittens.

Logically I know this can happen when fostering young kittens.  I know there was nothing more I could have done for them, and its not my fault they died.  I know this logically.  But emotionally I am heartbroken.  They were my foster cats.  They were supposed to have a happy life with a wonderful new family someday.  I never even gave them real names. 

This one I called "Little Black One".  He was my favorite of the four.  He was the most cuddly and always the first to greet me when I came in the room.  He had little fuzzy black hair all over that always seemed to look all askew. 

This one I called "Socks".  There were two gray tabbies in the litter and this one had white on her feet, like little white socks which is how I was able to tell them apart. 

"Little Black One" and "Socks" are gone now.  Please say a prayer for the other two kittens - "Spot" and "Trickster".  These are the temporary names I've been using for them.  I don't want to lose them too.

---

I debated sharing this news.  I want this blog to be a happy, fun place to visit.  But I also know many of you are friends who really care about my foster animals and would want to know.  I absolutely love fostering dogs and cats, and I love sharing my experiences with you, but sharing the story for every pet I foster means including both the good and the bad.  And losing a foster pet is the absolute worst part of fostering that there is.  But I will try to make tomorrow's post something more upbeat.  Perhaps there will even be a new Ziggy story soon.   I don't know about you, but Ziggy can always make me smile. 

Back to reality...

Saturday was our Flea Market fundraiser, and it went very well.  I was amazed at the number of volunteers who were there to help - people donated flea market items, homemade baked goods, and various supplies.  Many people showed up to help set up, sell food, help with the adoptable dogs, and just lend a hand wherever was needed.  Thank you so much to everyone who helped to make this event a success.  We raised a lot of money for the dogs and cats, and we couldn't have done it without you.

A special thank you goes out to my fellow event coordinators - Lisa, Julie and Shuma.  They spent hours and hours planning this event and making it such a success.  You probably know that fundraising is one of my least favorite things, but these women actually made the whole experience fun.  I'm even a little bit sad that its over.  Although now I can get back to my normal schedule of taking care of my fosters and writing blog posts and sleeping.  I have missed that.  Maybe now I'll even find time to name these guys.... or girls.... as soon as I figure out which they are. 

Introducing the Nameless Kittens

It's been a very crazy couple of weeks.  So crazy that I haven't even named the four kittens I took in last week.  Some people like to hold off on naming new foster pets until they know more of what they are like.  But I like to name them as soon as I meet them.  Sometimes I even name them before I meet them.  I just like them to have names!  And yet somehow I've had four kittens here for almost a week and they are still nameless.  So since I don't want to hold off on introducing them any longer, I'll just have to fill in the names later.  Here are the four new kittens.

The all gray tabby kitten

The gray tabby kitten with white socks

The black tabby kitten

The white with black spots kitten

These guys are adorable and hilarious.  And they bring the total number of cats and dogs in my house up to 13.  Which makes me too busy to have time to name them.  But it does leave me enough time to play with them and laugh at them and annoy them. 

Here is what my daughter's bedroom looks like immediately after setting out some canned cat food. 

It's a lot of fun to have so many cute cats and kittens around. Until it's time to clean the litter boxes. Then it's all drudgery. Because nine cats/kittens can create a lot of... oh never mind. Just take my word for it - fostering is not all fun and games. I am never more aware of this than when I try to plan for a vacation and find someone to watch 13 dogs and cats. For some reason, most people already seem to know that fostering is not all fun and games. They want a lot of money to do what I do every day for free. And I wonder if I am in the wrong business. But then I look at these lives that I have saved, and I know every minute (even the minutes spent cleaning litter boxes) is well worth it. And no amount of money could replace the joy that I find in saving these kittens' lives. 

Baby Kittens

This is Lucy.  She is one of my favorite dogs. 
Yes, I know I have at least two dozen "favorite" dogs.  But Lucy is definitely one of them.

I know the title of this post is Baby Kittens, and we'll get to that. But as a dog blogger, I felt obligated to start out with a picture of a dog. Lucy belongs to a friend of mine who fosters cats. Basically Lucy's mom Barb runs a kitten nursery for homeless kittens/cats. And she recently started a new blog. So I talked her into inviting me over to visit. I told her I could write a blog post about her kittens and let people know about her new blog, but first she had to make me dinner and let me play with the kittens - and she believed me! I'm not above using my blog for personal gain. And Barb is a great cook, and a super nice person. So after a wonderful dinner, I got to visit Lucy and Barb's many foster kittens.

One week old kitten:

One week old kittens with their mom:

One week old kitten being hugged by his mom 

Quick photo of Lucy, so there's no confusion about who I love the most. 

Four week old kitten:

Four week old kittens with their mom:

Four week old kitten being held by his foster mom:

Not only does Barb have one litter of one week old kittens and another litter of four week old kittens, she also has a few older kittens/cats that she is fostering until they can find homes. She is amazing - most if not all of these cats/kittens would have been killed if she hadn't taken them in. Now they will get to grow up in a safe, happy place and when they're old enough they'll be spayed/nuetered and available for adoption. Also the momma cats will be spayed and placed for adoption as well. When you get a chance, please stop by Barb's new blog "Barb's Cats and Quilts" and thank her for the work she is doing to save these kittens and cats. And don't forget to tell Lucy hi too! 

Wordless Wednesday

Saturday Adoptions

I got to see a lot of my old friends at adoptions on Saturday.  I even saw some of the Heartland foster pets that I had at my house temporarily in the past.  Some of them remembered me.  Some of them pretended they didn't. 

This is Jackson.  He is the cat who my niece named Princess.  This is before we knew he was a boy.  Jackson went to my friend Julie to be fostered, and he is doing great.  I excitedly greeted him, and he barely opened his eyes, looked at me, and then went right back to sleep.  I tried not to take it personally - I know how important naps are to cats.  He really did used to like me, even though I called him Princess. Not that anyone would guess he ever knew me from the way he ignored me. They had to get out the feather toy to get him to lift up his head long enough for me to take this photo.  How embarrassing. 

This is Rusty, being held by my friend Barb.  Rusty stayed with me for a few weeks, several months ago when he was a tiny kitten.  I fell in love with him and came really close to adopting him.  He's an awesome cat - very affectionate and loving.  See him reaching out in the picture?  He's reaching out to me saying how he loves me.  Okay not really - it was that feather toy again.  But I did hold him and he did seem happy about it.  I'll have to settle for that. 

This is Athena.  I temporarily fostered her at the same time as Rusty.  They aren't littermates, but they were put together at the animal control facility where they were turned in as kittens, and they've been in foster care together ever since.  Athena is a beautiful fluffy cat that probably needs to be in a home without other cats.  She is a bit of a diva.  Remember the wet cat contest?  That was Athena in the picture.  She looks much better when she's dry.  She was another one not so happy to see me - I think she remembered the baths I gave her. 

KERMIT!  My guy.  The reason I am a dog person more than a cat person.  When I came up to him and said "Hi Kermit!", he didn't ignore me, or go back to sleep, or pretend he didn't know who I was.  He got excited, and he showed it!  He was as happy to see me as I was to see him.  And that made me feel good.  I love this dog.  I've talked about him several times in the past, and he's always on my mind.  I've even asked if I can foster him, as soon as I can make room for him.  I just miss him so much.  It's nice to know he misses me too. 

Scaredy-dogs and brave kittens

Recently I had the chance to dog-sit Murphy, my favorite dog in the world.  Please don't tell my dogs - Remi and Noelle don't know they aren't my favorites. Although they might have figured it out after Murphy got here and I proceeded to ignore them in favor of Murphy for most of the weekend. I know, I'm a bad dog owner - but it's Murphy!  Did I mention he's my favorite dog in the world? His family is kind enough to keep me updated on him and let him stay with me occasionally when they go out of town (and they keep paying me, even though I would pay THEM for the privilege of watching Murphy!).

Murphy is kind of camera shy, so when I got out my camera to take a picture of him laying on the couch with Remi, he got up and ran to his crate where he feels safe.  There's just no privacy in my house though - Merlin and the kittens thought that would be an excellent time to get a drink of water from Murphy's water bowl. 

Murphy is VERY camera shy.  He normally enjoys a fun game of chase-the-cat, but in this case, there's no way he was going to come out of his crate with the camera pointed in his direction.  In fact, Penguin the kitten felt so safe there that he decided to settle down and take a nap.

Lucy was adopted!

Lucy was adopted yesterday - my kitten-cleaning assistant is gone! She is no longer available to clean up the kittens after they finish eating, so I have to clean them up myself now. I think the kittens miss Lucy almost as much as I do! :-)

Speaking of kittens, the four kittens are doing great - they are so much fun to play with. My husband jokes that they don't say "meow", they say "pheeuw", and it does sound like that! They are so tiny and pathetic and adorable, and they eat a lot, and create huge messes. I'm enjoying them more every day. They are still eating kitten canned food and KMR (kitten milk replacement) and I'm finally getting the hang of how much to feed them each time. They all like to climb on me and cuddle up on my neck and purr, and I give each one a turn carrying it around the house with me while I do other chores.... I hope I'm not making them dizzy.

All my other fosters are doing well too. Marco and Polo, my fluffly white cats, had an adventure in the basement - they explored down there for a few days until I finally found them and took them back upstairs. They had food and a litter box down there, so I guess they were in no hurry to leave, but I didn't like them having so many hiding places where I couldn't find them. They're in my daughter's bedroom now and spend most of the time watching out the window, cuddled up together. Marco has to have a dental and two teeth removed next week, then they'll be ready for adoption.

Shiro and Una are doing great - they've been going to PetSmart and are on the website but so far no one has shown any interest in them. I was hoping they'd start to come out to the rest of the house but they seem to prefer to hang out by themselves in a back bedroom. Shiro always comes to greet me and get petted but he doesn't like to leave his room. Una doesn't seem to care if I'm there or not, as long as I bring canned food now and then.

My other two cat fosters, Scribbles and Whisper, are still living at PetSmart. I heard from one family who is interested in Scribbles so I'm hoping she gets adopted this weekend! No one seems interested in Whisper - she has been waiting such a long time for a home, so I wish someone would want her.

I'm down to just one dog foster right now! Noelle is doing great, and I think she misses Lucy and Boo, but she still has Remi to play with. I am sure she'll have a new foster dog friend soon, but I'm going to wait awhile before bringing another foster dog home. My husband left today for a three week trip for Army, so I need a few days break to get my house cleaned and get caught up on chores, before I'm ready to add another dog to the family.